Sprint to Begin Rollout of Its High-Speed 5G Services in May
Published on February 26, 2019
- Sprint is set to launch its 5G services in May 2019 that will see the network carrier offer speeds of up to 430 Mbps.
- Nine cities in the US will be part of the initial rollout phase.
- The company will also offer a 5G hotspot in partnership with HTC later this year.
Sprint is set to launch its 5G services in the US in three months. Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, and Washington, DC will be among the first to get 5G access from the provider in May. The company did not reveal any information about its upcoming plans. In a demo, the carrier showed a top speed of 430 Mbps.
The company’s chief technology officer John Saw revealed that Sprint wants to focus on the user experience and not speed. The upcoming service will not be capable of offering millimeter wave coverage like other major carriers due to licensing issues. Instead, the service will be using a mid-band spectrum that is faster than LTE but does not travel as fast as 5G. The upcoming service will also be a part of Google Fi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcHNMBhad4Q
The first phone to be a part of Sprint’s 5G network will be LG V50 ThinQ. The carrier will also partner with HTC to offer a 5G hotspot by Spring 2019. Sprint and T-Mobile’s recent merger will allow 5G services to be deployed much faster. According to CEO Michel Combes “It’s obvious that by merging the two companies you get the full benefits in terms of accelerating deployment and coverage of network.”
Sprint is currently testing its 5G network in Chicago and will be working towards offering maximum coverage by the end of this year. The company will offer 5G across 230 square miles in the Dallas Fort Worth area and over 1,000 square miles in the first nine cities that will get access to 5G from the carrier. There are concerns surrounding 5G that need to be addressed and it remains to be seen if the GSMA fixes security flaws found in 5G technology before it becomes mainstream.
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